Intel confirms huge multibillion-dollar Ireland expansion plans

With it the company hopes to keep up with the growing demand for CPUs

If there’s one thing Intel has been struggling with in the last years, it’s pumping out their CPUs. Not only has the 10nm fabrication process been delayed three years so far with no guarantee it will make it this year, but lately Intel’s 8th gen and 9th gen parts have suffered from low yields that have increased prices, reduced availability, and even forced them to return to 22nm in some cases. To change that, the multinational micro-chip producer Intel has reportedly filed a request for a huge expansion to its Irish manufacturing campus Leixlip.

According to plans the 90,000m2 manufacturing plant in in Co Kildare, Ireland will be expanded by another 110,000m2 with a budget of $8bn. It’ll take four years and 3,000 construction workers to build and will employ 1,600 staff, bringing the workforce there to around 6,200 employees.

"As you may be aware, we recently began the early phase of site enablement works for manufacturing site expansion in Leixlip. These enabling works are being undertaken within the scope of the planning permission granted to us in 2017. In the weeks and months ahead, we will be actively engaging with our key stakeholders and the broader community," the vendor's Irish general manager Eamonn Sinnott said.

Plans to bolster its Irish plant were first announced last year, as part of a multibillion-dollar initiative to expand Intel's manufacturing capabilities worldwide. Yet, the confirmation comes now after Intel reported a record year earlier this month, before appointing its new CEO.

The vendor also plans to expand further sites in Arizona, Oregon and Israel, with construction set to start this year, in order to keep up with demand for its 14-nanometre chips.

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